Electrical connectors comprise opposed mateable male and female electrical connector halves, each of which comprises a housing and at least one electrical terminal securely mounted therein. Electrical conductors or wire leads are joined to the terminals mounted in the housings, and may further be mechanically joined to the housing itself to achieve a strain relief connection. The housing of at least one half of the electrical connector typically may be mounted to a panel. Many connectors, such as drawer connectors, include a pair of panel mounted connector halves which are mateable with one another by movement of at least one of the panels toward the other.
The housings may be molded from a suitable dielectric plastic material, and preferably define a unitary molded plastic structure. The opposed mateable connector housings typically include appropriate guide structures for guiding the two mateable connector halves into a mated electrical connection. To facilitate this initial mechanical alignment of the connector housings, at least one connector half, and typically the male connector half, is provided with a floating mount to the panel.
Prior art floating panel connectors have mounting means extending from the connector housing in the form of flexible locking arms which lock directly to the panel. These arms have had problems of breaking while not being able to provide a large lateral floating movement between the connector housing and the panel. The present invention is directed to providing a floating panel mount system which allows the use of considerably larger or at least more robust locking arms than have heretofore been available, yet providing a substantial range of lateral floating movement between the connector housing and the panel. Such a substantial range of lateral movement is necessary in a "blind mating" condition where the connectors are not visible to the person or machine causing the mating.